Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

March 11, 2019

Back to Work

Today marks my fourth week back at work since maternity leave. Although, instead of going "back" to work, I started a new job, one that is already proving to be infinitely less stressful and demanding than my previous one. Despite having a roughly 2.5 hour roundtrip commute each day, I'm feel like I have so much more balance in my life than my previous one. In similar vein with my last post, this post is all about the new role I'm navigating - the role of working mom.


I thought I would have a really hard time going back to work, especially with so much change, but so far, my experience has been really positive. 

 It helps that I was home with Aurora for 18 weeks. I have long advocated and supported paid maternity (and paternity!) leave and I truly believe that 6 months should be the standard minimum. I didn't feel like I was leaving my newborn behind. I didn't feel like I had barely recovered from childbirth. I felt ready to go back to work. I miss my baby when I'm at work but since I've been back, my weekends feel like a wonderful eternity of playtime.

 It helps that our childcare situation is pretty ideal. The Pilot is home with her 3 days every week and we have a couple of part-time nannies that come over the other days. My mom has also come down to stay with us for a week each month since I've been back. We do want to put her in daycare in the fall so that The Pilot can have his weekends back but this is a really ideal situation for right now.

It helps that I'm working with other new moms. A few of my new colleagues are new parents or will be soon and they've been in my shoes and have been really supportive helping me navigate not just my new role and workplace but my pumping breaks and communicating to my male colleagues why the new girl is away from her desk so often!

It helps that I have a long commute. Ok, this is probably the weirdest thing I'll say. I hate driving. I bought a brand new car in July before Aurora was born and dragged my feet for 3 months before The Pilot made me go to the dealership because I needed to have my own car when The Pilot's sits at the airport for 4 days at a time. When I worked from home, I really never stopped working. It was not unusual for me to work 7-7 or even later some nights. I had a lot of midnight deadlines with clients that really toed the line of how late they could push that. (I once submitted a $2M grant proposal at 11:59pm.) Having a long commute gives me time to think about my day and unwind. The commute is long but I don't sit in standstill traffic every day. I would trade it tomorrow for a shorter commute to spend more time at home with Aurora but I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I took this job and I spent two months thinking about whether I could do that commute, so now that I'm in the thick of it, I'm going to look at the bright side. Plus, audiobooks are a godsend!

So there are a lot of things working in my favor right now. I've figured out my commute and pumping, now I just need to figure out how I can start working out again but four weeks in, and I'm feeling really good about navigating my new role as a working mom. The days The Pilot is away are a tricky to navigate and a little more tiresome than the days I have his help but honestly, I feel like I have my shit together way more than I did before I had a baby. My days have to be more structured and so they are, and that's made this navigation much easier. There is still a lot I have to figure out and I know there are going to be times when this feels impossible, but right now, I'm happy.
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October 25, 2018

It's A Girl!!!

Two weeks ago, The Pilot and I welcomed our sweet baby girl, Aurora Olivia, into the world and I couldn't be more in love.


We've been thinking about and planning for these early weeks with a baby for so long and now that we're finally experiencing it, we've jumped right in. We're learning to respond to her cues and what different cries mean, what she needs when, and even getting her on a very loose schedule (eat, play, sleep). For the first week, we didn't have any visitors - I wanted that time for us to figure out our new family and I don't regret that decision for a second. Although, now that my mom is here, I'm so grateful for the extra help!

I thought I'd write this post to share a little bit about how we're doing and answer some of the most common questions I've gotten since bringing Aurora home!


How am I doing? Postpartum recovery has been tough. I thought I managed my expectations well but two weeks postpartum, I still can't go up or down stairs without pain and I still can't get in or out of bed while holding Aurora. I've graduated from being mostly bedridden to being able to get up and about the house. We've left the house quite a bit but it's always a struggle. I didn't expect to still feel like this two weeks postpartum without major complications or a c-section but here we are. I didn't have any complications but it took 27 hours of active labor with almost 5 hours of pushing to bring her into the world and that isn't easy to recover from. I honestly thought I'd be back to walking Peyton within a week of coming home and thought that timeline might even seem generous. I'm listening to my body but I really want to be able to just go outside and take a walk. I talked to my midwife about it and she said that I could still be feeling like this for another week or two which is a little disappointing so I'm just doing what I can to try to heal.

Did we really not know what we were having? Yup! It was a total surprise and the absolute best moment when, right after she was born, The Pilot said, "It's a girl!" I never really had a feeling one way or another through my pregnancy. I wouldn't really let myself have a strong feeling one way or the other. The night before I found out I was pregnant, I had a dream that I had a boy. Right around the start of my third trimester, I had a dream that I was having a girl. We had already picked out names for both a boy and a girl and two weeks before she was born, I was driving and got cut off by a truck with the name Aurora written across the back and then I really started wondering if she might be a girl. 

How did we choose her name? The Pilot and I had a really hard time thinking of baby names. It was really important to me that our baby's name could easily be said by my Spanish speaking family. I didn't feel like the name had to be Spanish but it needed to be easily translatable and that was tough. The Pilot came home one day and asked how I felt about Aurora. He had just heard the name somewhere and liked it but what he didn't know was that Aurora was my great grandmother's name, is my grandmother's middle name, and my aunt's middle name! And that was it! I've always liked the name Olivia so we chose it as her middle name.

How is Peyton handling a baby in the house? Peyton doesn't think she's allowed near Aurora. It's pretty adorable. She gets pretty close to her but won't come too close even when we try to get her to, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Every time The Pilot takes her out, she comes back in and runs to the bassinet to check on Aurora. It's adorable. She definitely doesn't mind having a baby in the house though. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, Peyton runs to her bassinet and lays down underneath it. It's super cute. 

So that's it! We have a baby and I have to say, it's pretty great!
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October 1, 2018

38 Week "Bumpdate" + Maternity Photos!

I'm going to have a baby this month. 


It feels weird to type that out but at the same time, it feels so right and I definitely feel ready.

I haven't written much about my pregnancy on this blog. 


Ok, I haven't written much about anything this blog lately but here we are, in the home stretch and I thought it was time to write something!

At 38 weeks, this little one could make their appearance any time this month. At one of my very first appointments, my midwife made it very clear that I could have our baby any time between 37 and 42 weeks. Honestly, I think this is the best thing anyone has told me. I've been prepared that baby could come "any day now" for the last week but I also know that I could still be pregnant for 4 more weeks. Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I'm uncomfortable but knowing that the whole concept of a due date is arbitrary is really putting me in a good headspace to just be prepared and take things one day at a time. 

I really wanted to love being pregnant but the road to getting here was too bumpy and my first 20 weeks were really hard. I found out I was pregnant at just 3 weeks and started getting sick almost immediately. I was throwing up 5-6 times a day and couldn't eat anything. With my history of loss, this terrified me. I was trying so hard to just take things one day at a time and not be scared of this pregnancy but not being able to eat made it hard. When I finally stopped being sick at around 14 weeks, I didn't have the energy for anything. I kept hearing about how magical the second trimester was but I felt awful. After a diagnosis of low iron and adding in a supplement, I finally started feeling better around 20 weeks and have felt really good right up until the last week or so when I've just started feeling tired and uncomfortable as I've come to full term. 


I've tried to stay active, walking almost every day and going to prenatal yoga every week. I haven't run my entire pregnancy and I desperately miss it. During my first trimester, I was honestly too scared to run. I know that running is safe during pregnancy but with my history, I couldn't bring myself to start running. Not to mention how sick I was. To be honest, I lived in a little bit of a bubble during the first five months of my pregnancy. By the time I finally felt like I could start running, I was already too big and uncomfortable. I tried easing into a walk/run routine but ultimately, I stuck to walking. I know that it will take a while before I'm able to run postpartum and I hope I'm not too lofty in dreaming of a fall marathon next year but I'm pretty good about managing my expectations and plan to take it slow and see what I'm able to do. 


One thing I wasn't prepared for was how real the nesting instinct would be. We moved into our house just a few weeks before I found out I was pregnant and because I got so sick so soon, there were a lot of things that needed to get done around the house that were left undone for a long time. I didn't unpack the last moving box until about a month ago! Before I could even think about the nursery, I had this desperate need to get the living room gallery wall up, the pantry repainted and organized, my office completely done, all of the outlet covers in the house replaced (they had been painted over by the previous owners), the laundry room redone, and a whole host of other projects. Surprisingly, I got through all of them and the nursery is finished (save a hole in the ceiling that appeared over the weekend!) and I'm ready to just take it easy and wait to bring home our little one. 


It's crazy to think that exactly one year ago, I was reeling from a second miscarriage and didn't think I ever wanted to get pregnant again. It was too scary and too painful and it took a lot for me to be in a place where I could think about getting pregnant again. We haven't even met our baby yet but I'm so glad I didn't give up. This journey is one that I wouldn't wish on anyone - it is cruel and painful and unbelievably lonely - but I survived it and I hope that there is a lesson in here somewhere that I can carry with me as I welcome our baby into this world. 

Thanks for reading.
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August 1, 2018

Mid-Week Coffee Date

Hi friends. Happy August! I'm happy to see July behind me. Last month was brutal. I took on some extra projects at work and with my ever-growing pre-baby to-do list, just felt like I didn't have time for anything. It doesn't help that I'm super unmotivated to do much of anything these days. I blame pregnancy, but I'm pushing through. I haven't had the chance to post since my big announcement so I thought I'd ease back in with a coffee date and fill you in on what I've been up to!


If we were having coffee, I would be drinking Mommee Coffee. I found this stuff on Amazon and love it. I'm not a coffee snob but this is really tasty coffee! It's low acid, quarter caf coffee (also comes in half-caf and 3/4-caf) which is perfect for a soon-to-be mama who is limiting her caffeine intake but can't drink regular coffee because pregnancy heartburn is real.

If we were having coffee, here's what I'd share:

I'm officially in my 3rd trimester! I shared a little bit about our experience going through pregnancy loss in my last post so this feels like a huge milestone. I'm feeling surprisingly good at this point, if not a little run down but everything is looking good.

I have a mile-long to-do list of stuff I want to get done around the house before the baby comes and surprisingly, most of it has nothing to do with the baby. The list is things like...painting the laundry room, reorganizing the pantry, and hanging our bedroom curtains. It feels a little overwhelming and I wish I could take a week off to just work on house projects but unfortunately, I need to save that time for maternity leave.

I miss running. I haven't run a single mile in 2018 and I was fine with it until very recently. I always wanted to be someone who ran through my pregnancy but with my history, honestly, I was just too scared to run. I lived in a bubble my first trimester and I know that that's what I needed to do for my own well-being. I didn't feel well enough to even attempt to run until I was close to 20 weeks and by that point, I had a sizeable baby bump that I wasn't used to running with and I didn't like running the few times I tried to get out there. I hope that my return to running isn't impossible after being out of the game for a full year but I have every intention of running again as soon as I feel up to it and am cleared by my doctor!

I've finally gotten out of the reading rut I've been in all year. I'm 11 books behind on my Goodreads challenge (which I had actually set low this year) but I'm finally back to reading every day. Everyone keeps telling me I'll have tons of time to read on maternity leave so maybe I'll be able to catch up. Right now, I'm reading "Paris to the Moon" by Adam Gopnik, a New Yorker writer who moved to Paris with his 8-month-old son in the 90s. Let me tell you - if this doesn't set my wannabe expat wheels turning, I don't know what does!

I'm working on my recap of our amazing trip to Lisbon and will have those posts up next week! But I can tell you right now, Lisbon was an amazing choice for a babymoon...for a lot of unexpected reasons!

To all of you who commented on my post, thank you, I'll be responding soon now that I'm out of a busy July!


What would you share over coffee?
What's your coffee shop drink of choice?
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July 6, 2018

We're Gonna Need Another Passport...

There's more than one reason I've been MIA on my blog lately.


The Pilot and I are expecting a baby!  

For a long time, I wasn't sure if I was going to write this post but ultimately, I felt like I couldn't leave it off of my blog. I've had this blog for 8 years and it's a huge part of my life. Sure, I haven't posted much in the last year or so but for those of you who still read, I want to share our news, and outside of that, this blog has been a chronicle of my life since graduating from college and it feels like a missed opportunity to not write about something as big as this!


The thing is, it took a long time for me to feel comfortable sharing this news. We didn't even tell our families until after my 16th week. 

Because this isn't my first pregnancy. The Pilot and I had the hardest year of our lives dealing with unexplained pregnancy loss and doctors who were so dismissive and flippant, it set my head into a spin. We also dealt with a lot of people who had no idea how to respond to something like pregnancy loss and said all the wrong things.

"Everything happens for a reason."
"It's all part of God's plan."
"At least you know you can get pregnant."
"This is probably for the best...there was probably something wrong with you baby."
"Now when you do have a baby, you know you'll be ready for it."

It was hard and I just couldn't take these comments in stride. My hormones were out of control and I was grieving and I really needed people to just tell me they were sorry and be there for me, not try to justify something that seemed so unjustifiable. Instead, with each passing comment, I crawled deeper and deeper into a hole until one day, I started to really worry about myself. 

But I got help. I found a therapist who finally made me feel like I had a right to feel the way I felt. I found friends who were open to listening to me and who made an effort to see how I was doing and I finally got to a place where I wasn't terrified to get pregnant again and, when I did get a positive pregnancy test, I didn't cry myself to sleep out of fear, I smiled a little bit and said, well, let's take this one day at a time. 

And here we are, 25 weeks later. I'm finally sharing the news and planning a nursery and thinking about buying cute hooded bathrobes and onesies and things for our little one and I'm finally, finally over the moon excited about having a baby. 
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February 2, 2018

10 Things to Do in February

February isn't really a great month. It's usually the coldest month of the year. January always seems endless and March offers the promise of a little bit warmer weather, so February just kind of makes people miserable. Since February is my birthday month though, I always try to make the month a little bit brighter! So, here's a list of fun things to do in February to make the month a little sweeter!


  1. Go to a new museum. Or see a new exhibit at an old favorite! It's freezing outside and the temptation to stay inside is high. Brave the cold and go see something interesting!
  2. Clean out your medicine cabinet. When we moved in December, we got rid of a lot of stuff. One thing I did, was to clean out the medicine cabinet. You guys, seriously, do this. I had prescriptions in there from 2011. Please don't keep those muscle relaxers around in case you need them one day. I don't think taking expired meds is a good idea.
  3. Give aValentine's gift for someone special to you. I'm not talking about your significant other. Treat that coworker who is the only thing you like about your job, or the friend who has gotten you through everything, or even your Mom. Add some conversation hearts (actually, don't. Those are gross.) or chocolate to make it festive. 
  4. Buy yourself some flowers. They make your house look nice and are a nice contrast to the dark, dreary winter days outside.
  5. Have an unplugged morning. Wake up, lay in bed, read a book. Make yourself some pancakes. Make it a rule not to turn on your phone for at least 4 hours after you wake up. I dare you.
  6. Send someone a birthday card. 
  7. Make something entirely homemade. Pizza from scratch, homemade cinnamon rolls or pretzels, anything. This might be the month I finally try macarons again.
  8. Read a book by a black author. It's African American History month! I have yet to read anything by Ta-Nehisi Coates, so I'll either read something from him or Zora Neale Thurston. Or maybe both, why not? Need some recommendations? I highly recommend Alice Walker or Toni Morrison. "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi is hands down one of the best books I have ever read in my life (if not the best). I highly recommend it on Audio. These lists have some great recommendations. Also, Megan is posting one book a day that she's read and loved by a black author. 
  9. Get your hair blown out. Or get a massage. Get your nails done. Try all three. #treatyoself
  10. Try to have a perfectly hygge night.
What are you looking forward to in February?
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January 31, 2018

January 2018 Recap

It seems that January has been a long month for everyone. I had the week between Christmas and New Year's off and ended up spending the entire week retiling our laundry room and painting the parts of the wall that the previous owners never painted. To say I'm ready for a vacation would be an understatement.


We still haven't finished unpacking, something that I've definitely neglected, and I really want to finish this weekend. Originally, I wanted to finish unpacking by the end of the month but now I'm just hoping for the weekend! I've been planning to post a house tour but until yesterday, I couldn't find my DSLR!

Looking back on this month, it's been really good. I love that our home is ours! I can't wait to start hanging things on the wall and finish unpacking and really start to make it feel like home. Annoying DIY projects and all, I love being a homeowner.

The first weekend of the month, The Pilot and I flew down to Texas to visit my family. My sister has a new baby and we hadn't been able to get down to see her between all of our fall travel, closing on the house, and the holidays. She's the sweetest baby and I loved spending time with my family! I hadn't been to Texas for almost a year and definitely won't let that much time pass before my next trip!

I also did my fourth annual 30-Day Yoga Challenge with Yoga with Adriene. This year's challenge was amazing and I felt like it was tailormade for me. I almost made it the entire 30 days and then, last Friday, on Day 25, I completely forgot to get on my mat! I wasn't even particularly busy but when my head hit the pillow that night, I realized I had missed out. I feel like I normally would have been really bent out of shape about this but if I've learned anything from this challenge (and I've learned a lot), it's to let go. I really loved this practice series and am looking forward to continuing yoga at home next month, but I also want to try to make it to the studio 2-3 times each week both for longer practices and to get out into Baltimore and meet people!

I shared the books I've read this month, most of which I enjoyed. Right now, I'm reading two books (which I never do unless they're different genres, which these are) - "The Japanese Lover" and "Fantasyland."

Yesterday, I wrote about my blog plans this year. This month, I've written more posts than I have since January of last year! I've already planned out my posts for next month and I'm excited to share some exciting stuff!

In February, The Pilot and I will both celebrate our birthdays (one week apart!). We're taking a mini vacation (no idea where yet!) and I'll hopefully have finished unpacking and decorating! We're waiting until the weather gets nicer to have a housewarming but I'd like to get most of the work done to get that ready next month! One thing I'm hoping will help is Apartment Therapy's The January Cure. I've done this before and I feel like it'll be a great way to help us finish settling in!

How did your January shape up?
What are your plans and goals for February?
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January 3, 2018

Good Morning, Baltimore

When The Pilot and I moved to DC five years ago, almost to the day, I didn't think I would ever leave. We got engaged and married in DC, made lifelong friends, and really made DC our home.

I swore I would never leave DC unless it was to move overseas. Yet, we just bought a house in Baltimore.


I love DC. It's the first city I've lived in since I left London 10 years ago that truly felt like home. I never got tired of running on the National Mall or seeing the first pops of pink every Cherry Blossom season that rolled around. I love that I could go to museums and monuments for lunch. I love how much pride the city has, the DC flags on everything from bicycle helmets to keychain, and the fact that no matter how amazing my latest vacation, I always felt good coming home.

So why did we leave?

The long and short of it is that we couldn't afford to buy a house in DC. We were looking at condos for a while but with DC's housing market exponentially rising by the minute, it wasn't long before we were priced out of the condo market too. We had our eye on a 2-bedroom condo that was being built across the street from us but when it hit the market for $265,000 MORE than the highest number we thought it might be listed at, we knew our time in DC was up. 

I'm a city girl, always have been. I haven't owned a car for 8 years and don't plan on buying another one if I can avoid it. I would go stir crazy living in a place where I had to drive to the nearest park or coffee shop. We could have moved to the DC suburbs but I didn't like any of the areas we looked in that were actually metro accessible.

There are areas of DC that are still somewhat affordable but any house in those areas are going to need a lot of work. Plus, with my 4-mile commute already taking up to 90 minutes, we didn't want to move any further away from my office.

So we turned to Baltimore. 35 miles outside of DC and easily accessible by the MARC train, my commute from Baltimore to DC wouldn't be much different than it already was.


I've joked to friends that buying this house was both the smartest and dumbest decision we've ever made. On the one hand, it's an investment. We're no longer throwing money into rent each month. On the other hand, we don't know anything about Baltimore and we bought the first and only house we looked at (assured by friends in Baltimore on a number of different counts that this house was a smart move).

For a long time after our offer was accepted, I worried whether we were making the right decision but as we've started settling in, I know we absolutely did. I've loved making our house our home despite what was a hellish moving experience that involved snow, an entire room worth of stuff left behind, and having to replace the washing machine within days of moving in (which led to us replacing the laundry room floor less than 2 weeks after moving in).

We have barely gone out to explore Baltimore and but so far, it's already starting to feel like home and I know that this decision was the right one. 


I'll still be working in DC one or two days every week, which I think I need. While I know that we made the right decision, it wasn't an easy one to make and in a lot of ways, I feel like DC let me down, not only on the housing front. We aren't the first people we know to make this move because DC and we've already met two people here who have made the same move. The sad thing is that DC isn't doing anything to keep the city affordable for families. 

At first, we said that in a few years, we might make the move back to DC but as we're settling in, Baltimore is already starting to feel like home. 

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can frequent Camden Yards, go crabbing on the Harbor, drink Natty Bohs on our patio, and make ourselves at home. I've always said that DC is the greatest city in America but Baltimore actually has that title!

One thing I regret about my time in DC is not blogging about all of my best-kept secrets, frequent haunts, and favorite spots. While I'll still be in DC part-time, I definitely plan to blog more about both of these cities that are home!
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January 2, 2018

How I'm Resolving to Be More Mindful in 2018

2017. What a year. 2017 bent me and broke me in so many ways and I am so ready to move past the hurt, grief, and fear and welcome in 2018 with open arms and an open heart. I know that midnight on New Year's won't magically make anything better and, while almost everything that happened last year was out of my hands, I'm concentrating on doing more in 2018 to take care of myself. 

I think a big reason 2017 was so hard was because I didn't have anything to fall back on when life came crashing down.


This year, I want to focus on being more mindful and intentional. I was hurt by a lot of people in 2017 and spent a lot of time dwelling on that. I wish I could say I'm ready to forgive and forget but I'm not at that point yet. I am at the point, though where I'm ready to let go and move on. I've never really set New Year's resolutions, I've always set goals but this year, I'm actually resolving to do things to live more mindfully this year.

For the third year straight, I'm doing Yoga with Adriene's 30 Day Yoga Challenge. Yesterday, I watched the "Orientation" video and I feel like this challenge was created specifically for me. 

I really want to grow my yoga practice this year. The 30 Day Challenge has always been a good start but I don't ever keep up with a regular practice beyond that. Usually, by April, I'm practicing once or twice a month as opposed to 3-4 days each week. 

I also want to start a meditation practice. I've downloaded Headspace but rarely make time for it. I want to change that this year and take the time to spend 10 minutes every day just breathing and taking a moment to myself to look inward. 

I want to spend less time on my phone and more time outside. It might be 5 degrees in Baltimore right now but grief locked me in last year and I'm ashamed to say that there were entire weeks when I didn't even leave our apartment. I wish I could say I'm exaggerating because this was terrible for me, physically, but especially mentally!

This year, I want to blog more. The last two years I've let work completely overtake my life and I've stopped reading blogs and posting and baking regularly and doing a lot of the things I love. Working from home 3-4 days every week has its benefits but it also means I have a tendency to let work overflow into my entire day. My new home office is on the 1st floor of our house whereas the rest of our living space is upstairs. I'm hoping this physical separation will help me shut down by 5:00 every day. I have so many half-written blog posts that I've put together over the last year and fun ideas for my blog I really want to make this space a priority, especially now that we're underway on projects for the house!

For the first time since I can remember, running isn't going to be a priority for me this year. I'm not planning any races or PR goals. This year, I want to run just to run. I've had a lot of running injuries over the years that started to creep up again last year and I want to take some time off from hard running to reset so that I can keep running well into my 30s and beyond.


As for travel, well, aside from family, this has always been my first priority in life! I know that another trip to Paris is on the horizon but aside from that, we'll see where the wind takes us!

What are you resolving in 2018?
Are you planning any fun trips this year?
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December 18, 2017

We Bought a House!

Excuse the radio silence these last few weeks. This Time, it's for a reason other than being swamped with work. The Pilot and I bought a house! 


We closed on the 8th and moved in on a very snowy Friday. Moving has been adventurous and full of unexpected (and slightly unwelcome) surprises but I'm so excited and I can't believe this whole house is ours!

It's a 3-story row house (ahh!) with 4 bedrooms and it's more than double the size of any apartment I've ever lived in! Seriously, moving from a 2 bedroom apartment (that only had one furnished bedroom - the other had a desk, bookshelf, and nothing else) to a house this big is crazy. I have no idea how we're going to furnish it all. If you want to come visit, it's BYOB - bring your own bed...and at the moment, BYOL - bring your own lamp because our house was built without overhead lighting except in the kitchen, but I don't care. I don't mind carrying a lamp around to every room in our house because it's OURS! Obviously, we will buy lamps, but that might take a few days!

It has a huge kitchen with an eat-in dining room, a deck off the kitchen that I can't wait to spend every minute on once the weather warms up, and the biggest laundry room I've ever seen. It also has a fireplace that's been roaring every night since we moved in. 

There are so many things to do (like unpacking) but none of it feels like a chore because it's all so exciting! I can't wait to get settled so that we can start some fun home projects and really making it feel like home! I'll be sharing more pictures and as we get settled! 

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October 31, 2017

October Recap

Good Morning! Happy Halloween!

October has surprisingly been an ok month, which is saying a lot for me right now. I've been running more,  I started going to acupuncture. Work slowed down for the first time in over a year, and I've been reading a ton. Overall, things are starting to feel normal again.


I'm not a fan of October. Autumn is usually my least favorite season. We've seen temperatures close to 90 and as low as 43. Weather like that makes me sleepy and I always get sick. Last week, I was sidelined with the flu which threw off my training for two weeks but I'm getting back into it...just in time for a few weeks of travel!

Here's how my month shaped up:

 Miles Run: 36

Books Read: 7 (same number as last month!)

 Blog Posts Written: 8 (the most I've written since March!)

 Trips Taken: 1.5

  • We had our company retreat on the Eastern Shore of Maryland last week. It was an overnight camping trip and we had a lot of fun! The picture above is from the trip. 
  • Today, I'm headed to Seattle!

Highlights: Tons of exploring DC - checking out new-to-me museums, scoping out some new DC mural, doing yoga at the Kennedy Center, etc!

 Lowlights: Getting the flu.

 The Month Ahead: I'm in Seattle today and The Pilot and I are headed to London in November for vacation! I'm also planning a trip to TX to visit my little sister and then my mom is coming to DC for Thanksgiving. It'll be a busy month but it'll be great!

How did your month of October shape up?

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September 11, 2017

Life Lately.

Hi. (Waves sheepishly.) Remember me? 

I can't believe it has been six weeks since I last posted. 


Ever since I started my current job last year, I've had less time for this blog. Most days, I sit at my computer and write. My work is thought-provoking, engaging, challenging, and incredibly demanding. I thought, at first, that I would enjoy switching gears before or after work to write about things that are fun but the reality is that by the time I shut down for the day, I just can't bring myself to sit in front of a computer and keep writing. It doesn't help that I work from home most days so I don't even have that period of commuting to unwind and give myself a break. On days that I am in the office, my bus commute takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 depending on the traffic and I'm usually pretty exhausted by the time I get home.

DC buses feel like some sort of punishment loop. Seriously.

This time around, work hasn't been the sole reason I've stayed away from my blog and reading all of yours. This year has been hard. I usually roll my eyes at the people who always say, "I can't believe it's already September" but this time, I feel like September has rolled around and I can't catch a break. I can't believe it's already September and that for the last four months, I feel like I've been spiraling downward. I know, I'm being really vague and I'm sorry. I really am. One day, I definitely plan to share what's been going on but right now, I'm too busy trying to keep my head on straight to open up about everything. 

Since it has been so long and summer is coming to a close, I'll share a few details of what I have been up to:
  • The Pilot and I went to Dublin. It was a wildly impromptu trip but The Pilot whisked me away to the land of Guinness and stew. I was desperate to get away somewhere and that trip was just what I needed. I could use another weekend like that right about now.
  • I went to a wedding in San Francisco with one of my girlfriends. I also took my first trip to wine country.
  • The Pilot and I went to Croatia and got stuck in Munich on the way there. Croatia wasn't what I expected. I'm hoping to get those posts up in the next week or two so you can see why.
While it may all sound like fun and travel, I can assure you that it hasn't been. Every single one of those trips was taken because I desperately needed to get away and take my mind off of things. They definitely served their purpose but now I'm dealing with some other things that have popped up since Croatia and I could use another trip. Running away has always been my favorite solution. It gives me a chance to reset, refocus, and feel better. 
  • I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've gone for a run since April. Remember when I went to Dubai for 4 days and ran 3 out of the 4? Yea. I miss that kind of commitment and I'm desperate to get back to it. It's amazing how hard it is to get back into running when I haven't run in so long. I planned to run just 2 miles four times this past week and I only did that once. I've got a long road ahead of me if I'm struggling to find time for two miles.
  • I've read 25 books this year, a decent number but I think I've only liked 3 of them.
  • My house is a mess. I haven't even unpacked from our trip to Croatia. We've been back for two months. I wish I was joking.
I'm desperate to get back to a place of prioritizing the things that make me happy - running, blogging, and traveling (and blogging about traveling). I need to start doing these things for my own peace of mind and well-being. This year has been absolute hell for me and I feel like I haven't had anything to fall back on so it's been a lot harder than I think it could have been if I was able to have time for the things that make me happy. We do have a few exciting things looming: 
  • Two of my friends are getting married this month so wedding season has officially kicked off in our household.
  • Wednesday is our 3rd wedding anniversary and, while we normally jet off somewhere fun to celebrate (see last year's trip to Australia and the previous year's trip to Hawaii), we took our anniversary trip early this year (Croatia) because of The Pilot's schedule. That doesn't mean that either of us isn't itching to jet off somewhere this week but sadly, we'll be spending our anniversary apart this year. 
Right now at work, I'm in the midst of planning for the next quarter of the year and I feel like it's a good time to plan out the quarter for myself too. What do I want the end of this year to look like? I want to run another half-marathon and possibly start training for a full. We'll see about that though. I want to get back to writing regularly. I desperately want to get back to writing regularly. I'll be taking the next few weeks to make some changes to my blog and share some thoughts about what you can see moving forward. And yes, I'll definitely get those Croatia posts up!

Thanks for reading. For those of you who have reached out because you've noticed my absence, it means the world to me. I spent some time catching up on all of your blogs this weekend but I'd love to hear what everyone has been up to.

Do you have any fun plans for fall?
What books have you absolutely loved lately? I'm desperate for a good read!


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March 20, 2017

Coffee Date: March Edition

Good Morning! Happy Monday! Let's have some coffee and dish about our weekends, shall we?


If we were having coffee, I would be drinking a home brewed cup of Philz Tesora which I splurged on over the weekend following a desperate necessity for coffee. I normally buy my coffee at World Market (their French Roast is delicious) but this was a coffee emergency and I went for the closest thing I could!

I would be much more interested in hearing about your weekend because mine wasn't at all that interesting. I spent the weekend on the couch, only leaving the couch to run but I did run a lot! 22 miles between Friday and Sunday actually and today, I rest!

If we were having coffee, I wold tell you that I'm super excited to be on the Junior League committee organizing a 5k this spring! Since September, I've been volunteering with an awesome organization called Bright Beginnings, a child development center for homeless children in DC. Bright Beginnings supports infants through Kindergarten and is a really incredible place that not only supports kids educationally but also helps their families in order to transition them out of homelessness.


If you're in the DC area, I would love if you signed up! Registration is only $25 and the proceeds go to an amazing cause! And, if you aren't in DC, you should sign up anyway and support Bright Beginnings. If you do sign up, you can indicate that you learned about it from me (Christy or type in Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes).

Speaking of races, I'm really torn between wanting to run a 10-miler or a half in April, at the halfway mark of my training. There don't seem to be many local races that would give me that option and I don't really want to have to travel for a race given all of the expenses that that would entail. I always like to run a half during a marathon training cycle and haven't done that for my last two marathons which has led me to be a little bit edgier and nervous on race morning than I would like. I am running a 10k in May, a distance I've always struggled with (and have avoided for the last five years) which might help with my nerves!

This week will be pretty busy. I have a work event, a Junior League meeting, and book club so I'm going to have some early mornings to get all of my training in but if I could do it balancing two long haul flights the last two weeks, I think I'll manage!

In the words of an old proverb (or Instagram post I saw somewhere), may your Monday be short and your coffee be strong!

What are you drinking this morning?
Do you have fun plans this week?

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January 2, 2017

Hello 2017!

Good Morning, friends! Happy New Year! It's a cold, rainy, gloomy day in DC which is weirdly, just what I need. I rang in the New Year by falling asleep at 10pm (moving is hard!) and then hanging out with a good friend who happens to be my new neighbor.

I love the start of the New Year. I think it's such a fantastic way to look back on the past year and look ahead. Last year, my theme for the year was growth and I'm going to keep that theme. We never stop growing, do we? We learn lessons and we make changes, but we never stop growing.


Looking back to this time last year, I'm definitely a happier person. 2015 was a tough year and, while 2016 was much better, I came out of the year with a desperate need for self care. I'm linking up with Helene tomorrow to recap my year but the one lesson I learned from 2016 was the importance of taking care of yourself. For the first time in my life, I had a job that I felt like I couldn't put down at 5pm on week days and, while, that definitely isn't the case, I had virtually no work life balance. I would be on the treadmill answering work emails. By the time December, my industry's busiest month, rolled around, I felt burned out. This year, I need to learn to put a serious focus on work life balance.

Because of the lack of a work life balance, my blog seriously suffered. I never had time to post and when I did, I was too tired to sit in front of a computer and craft a post. I started last year with a 31-day blogging challenge and by March, I was posting maybe once per week. This year, I'm committing to spending at least 4 hours per week on my blog. I've planned out all of my posts for the month of January and actually have a plan to bring my blog back to it's former, for lack of a better word, glory. This will be the 7th year that I've had this blog and I don't want this hobby to fall to the way side. I need to be realistic about my plans for posting, connecting with other bloggers, and growing my blog, but at the end of the day, I just want to be blogging again.

Looking back on my goals from last year, I feel like all of my goals for this year are the same. I don't look at that as a failed 2016 but as an opportunity for a better 2017! So, in list form, here are my goals for 2017 (mostly repeated from 2016):

  • Run a sub-4 marathon: Goodness, I'm sick of making this a goal. I've had a goal to run a sub-4 marathon since 2011. I know people who eke out 10, 15, 20, 40 minute PRs and over my seven year running career, I've knocked off a whopping 7 minutes from my marathon. I'll share my running goals in another post this month but I'm tackling 2 marathons this year to try to finally get that sub-4 finish.
  • Do another 30-day yoga challenge: I did an at-home yoga challenge last year. This year, I'd like to up the ante and try a 30-day in-studio challenge, or at least mix it up with half the time in the studio and half the time at home.
  • Finish my 30 before 30:  I'll be 30 next month and I'm only about one-third of the way through my 30 Before 30 list but I'd like to finish the list by the end of 2017.
  • Hit 30 countries: I've traveled to 26 countries. I think it would be awesome to make it to 30 in my 30th year!
  • Take a cooking class: The Pilot's parents bought us a gift certificate to a culinary school in DC for Christmas! I'm so excited!
  • Cook at least one recipe from every single one of my cookbooks: I have a cookbook addiction. My obsession with Little Free Libraries and the propensity of people in my neighborhood to leave cookbooks in them doesn't help. Yet, I have a lot of cookbooks that I've never touched. I need to change that or make a plan to get rid of some of these books. 
Of course, my goals that always go without saying are to read and travel as much as possible. The Pilot and I already have trips planned for January and February and are looking at a mini vacation in March. My mom and I are planning our annual summer trip, and then there's always our anniversary trip to plan! I'm aching to go back to London, dying to explore more of Asia, and aiming for another race in another country!

I'm excited for 2017. DC is going to be an interesting city to live in this year but that's just part of this city's charm. I'm excited to crush my running goals, travel the world, and continue to work on being my best self. This year, I'm going to be 30 and this year is going to be great! I hope you'll follow along.
What are your goals for this year?


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November 28, 2016

Coffee Date: November Edition

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I ended up in a food coma from way too many side dishes, but it was well worth it. 

I'm starting my morning with a strong cup of coffee and an omelet with sweet potatoes and kale (which I roasted and sauteed for dinner last night). I've got a busy week ahead, and an even busier month, and I'm going to need all the sustenance I can get!

If you were joining me for this coffee date, here's what I'd fill you in on. 


I went to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture on Thanksgiving Day with my mom and The Pilot. We got really lucky and were able to walk in without standing in line. I actually booked tickets about three months ago for this Thursday but my mom really wanted to try to get in, so I was able to give my tickets to some friends. 


The Museum is spectacular and easily ties the Newseum as my favorite museum in DC. The exhibits were harrowing, emotional, and evocative, and I can't wait to go back and really spend a full day exploring, rather than a few hours.

I haven't run since the marathon. I ran a strong race in Philly and my legs were numb almost from the start. My knees and hips have been really achy ever since, so I decided to take the full week off. Today, I'm planning on using the elliptical or bike, doing some gentle cross training and yoga, and see how I feel. I'm not planning to start running for a few more days. I can't take too much time off because training for the Disney Princess Half starts later this month and I'm setting a bold goal to break my 3-year-old PR and try to go sub-1:50. 

I am totally buying my race photos this time around because they are awesome. 
Speaking of running, I'm determined to do a lot more of it next year. I'm already signed up for Disney and planning to run DC Rock 'n' Roll. I've got a spring 26.2 that I'm very, very seriously considering and I'd like to do the Pacers 5k Fridays series to try to break my 5k PR. If Philly taught me one thing, it's that I desperately miss racing. I haven't run a race distance less than 10 miles since 2013 and I really want to change that. 

I watched the Gilmore Girls revival this weekend. (No spoilers, don't worry.). After binge watching the entire series for the first time from May through July, I was interested to see what the revival would entail. Honestly, I was pretty bored for most of the series and felt like they tried way too hard to fill the space of 90 minutes for each episode. I enjoyed the end but think the rest of the series fell flat. 

On Friday, Carolann and I were supposed to host our book club link up. I had planned to say that we would postpone the link up until this coming Friday because of the holiday, but I guess I forgot! Carolann posted her review today, which you can read here, but I'm still working my way through the book and will get it up this week! If you're also still working through "The Pearl that Broke Its Shell," you've got time, the link up will be open through Monday. 

The Pilot and I are hoping to head out on one last getaway before the year is over...which means, I really need to finish posting about our trip to Australia! 

What would you tell me over coffee? How was your Thanksgiving? Is your Christmass tree up yet? What are you looking forward to through the rest of the year?
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November 9, 2016

Today

I had a post scheduled today about my visit to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. While, I think we could all use cute pictures of koalas, it doesn't seem right.

 I live in the epicenter of our democratic system, a system that elected a different candidate than the the American people popularly elected, a system that I no longer know that I can believe in. 


 I am a first generation Latin American woman and I am heartbroken and scared that my country, that our country chose hate. 

 My heart breaks for the America that my mother came to after her father was imprisoned for political persecution. My mother didn't come to America by choice, but she stayed by choice. This is no longer the America that my family would have sought refuge in or chosen to stay in. This is no longer the America that I grew up in, believing that I could do or be anything regardless of my ethnicity, religion, or gender.

 This isn't about who lost or who won. This is about hate and fear winning. Hate and fear of people who don't look a certain way. Racism won. Sexism won. Homophobia won. Hate won.

I don't know how to move forward today. 


I know that I will but today, I am speechless. I am scared. 

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November 2, 2016

November Recap

October was a great month, but it was exhausting! I feel like I've trained for a marathon in just the 5 short weeks of October, and, in many ways, I did. I ran my first long run after Labor Day the first weekend of October and have run long every weekend since without stepping back. 12 miles, then 16, 18.5, 20, and finally 22 on Sunday. It had been exhausting and I'm so happy to have that behind me. 


I was also home for 4 of the 5 weeks in October, which is a record since I was gone for every single weekend in August and September, and it was so nice to finally get our "new" apartment in order. I never fully appreciated the luxury of cooking in my own home until now! It helps that I love my kitchen!

So let's take a look at how the month went, in numbers!

Miles Run: 140

Minutes of Yoga: 190

Spin Classes Taken: 1
  • I took a Sculpt Fusion class at Sculpt in Penn Quarter and loved it! It's a 40-minute spin class followed by 20 minutes of yoga. the class had a lot of hip openers and it was the perfect cross training class! I think I'll be doing a lot of that during taper!
Number of Books Read: 4

  • Favorite: "My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry" by Fredrik Backman.
Trips Taken: 2
  • Chagrin Falls, OH - I didn't blog about this trip because I'm trying to play catch up on my Australia trip but I went to OH with my sister for the Chagrin Falls International Documentary Film Festival because her film was premiering at it. We had an amazing weekend and the festival didn't disappoint! I might have to make this a tradition! Chagrin Falls was so cute! It was like the real Stars Hollow!
  • Warrenton, VA - My company took us on an overnight work retreat to Virginia and we stayed in these gorgeous homes in the middle of picture perfect fall leaves. It was nice to get out of the city for a few days!

Blog Posts Written: 5

30 Before 30 Items Completed: 1
  • The Pilot and I got all dolled up for the annual Junior League soiree last weekend! We had an amazing time and even won something in the silent auction!

Highlights: 
  • Marathon training! I started this month feeling severely undertrained to run a marathon. This weekend, I ran 22 miles and finally felt ready to toe the line of my 7th 26.2!
  • I had two friends in town this month, my friend Steph from San Francisco, and Holly! I loved playing tourist with Steph and having a girls' weekend with Holly. Both weekends were perfect!
Lowlights: Marathon training! It was rough. I came home from most of my long runs and didn't get off the couch for 4 hours. I really struggled to get these miles in, but I'm so glad I did!

The Month Ahead:
This month is the marathon! That's the biggest thing I'm focusing on! I also desperately want to get back to posting regularly on my blog, show you our new apartment, and fill you in just a little bit about my job and why it's keeping me so busy! I have a lot of posts planned for this month, and I hope I actually get them written! 

I'm also planning out the end of the year, not just in terms of holidays, but planning out my goals for next year - races, finances, blog plans, etc! I'm hoping to have more free time on my hands once the marathon is over, but I'm also thinking about signing up for another one shortly after. We'll see! One thing at a time!

How did your month shape up?
What are you looking forward to in November?
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October 18, 2016

Go to Australia.

I'm finally getting my Australia posts up! When we got back, I spent about 2 weeks trying to find the cable to import my photos before I finally sucked it up and just bought a new one! I've loved going through all of these pictures again and I'm so excited to be sharing our trip with you!

The Pilot and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary this year on the East Coast of Australia and it was easily one of the most incredible trips I've ever taken. 


We hadn't planned to go to Australia. We spent quite a bit of time trying to decide where we good go. It should have been easy considering we were only able to take a 3-day anniversary trip last year (which was incredible and I would do again in a heartbeat!). Thailand, Spain, the UK, and South Africa were all discussed, but ultimately, about two weeks before our vacations started, we decided on Australia. When I say decided, this is how it happened:


I've wanted to go to Australia for years but have never seriously considered a trip because I've always been told that you need at least 3 weeks to go to Australia, that a trip less than 2 weeks isn't worth the flight to get there or the money you'll spend.
The Pilot and I had exactly 10 days to spend in the country and even while we were there, reactions were mixed among the other travelers we met. Most people were shocked that we made such a long trip for such a short amount of time, one Aussie even went so far as to say we shouldn't have come at all because it wasn't enough time. The language around traveling to Australia is pretty prohibitive."Don't go unless you have at least 3 weeks." "Don't go unless you've saved up a fortune." "Don't go unless you have 5 days to spend in each state."

If you get anything out of the posts I'm going to share with you over the next few days about out trip, I hope it's this: Go to Australia. We spent 10 days there and I think we would have had just as wonderful a trip with 7. Sure, we could have seen a lot more with more time, but the reality is that it's pretty rare for The Pilot (or anyone!) to get two weeks off from work. We went with the time we had and it was perfect. 



Did we see the entire country? Absolutely not, but why would I try to see all of Australia when I haven't even seen all of the U.S.? The Pilot and I left on a flight to Sydney with no agenda other than to take advice along the way and enjoy ourselves, and that's just what we did. Through this post and the next few I'll write, I'm going to share details of our itinerary, but I'm also going to share what we didn't do to give you an idea of what you can realistically do in a 10-day trip down under! 


Here's a look at our itinerary:
  • Wednesday, 9/7: Flight DC > LA > SYD
  • Friday, 9/9: Arrive in Sydney
  • Tuesday, 9/13: Flight Sydney > Cairns
  • Wednesday, 9/14: Flight Cairns > Melbourne
  • Saturday, 9/17: Flight Melbourne > Sydney
  • Monday, 9/18: Flight Sydney > LA > DC
We flew into Sydney (via LA). We left DC on a Wednesday evening and arrived in Sydney on Friday morning. We were incredibly lucky to get upgraded to first class, which made the long haul flight and the time difference much more bearable. (Usually, the Pilot and I fly in middle seats on opposite sides of the plane, so this was a very, very welcome surprise!).

We stayed in Airbnbs everywhere we went which was so much more affordable than the hotels and in much better neighborhoods! 


In total, we had 5 full days in Sydney, 1 full day in Cairns, and 2 full days in Melbourne. My only regret was that we didn't spend an extra day in Melbourne. We had really bad weather (torrential freezing rain) the first day we were there which put a damper on things (literally) and the only reason we spent an extra day in Sydney on the way back is because we couldn't get on a flight home on Sunday! 


In 10 days, we did a lot. It was a jam-packed trip and we didn't exactly slow down. It was exhausting, but it was such an unbelievable trip. Here are a few things we didn't do and why: 
  • We didn't go to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). The flight takes almost 4 hours each way and then you have to hire a bus tour or rent a car to take you to the rock. We asked a lot of people whether we should do it and the general consensus was, "You fly 8 hours round trip and then walk around a giant rock for 3 hours." The appeal of Uluru is that it's in the Australian Outback.On a longer trip to Australia, I wold probably make the trip on my way out West, but we didn't feel a desperate need to get there.
  • We didn't go to the Kuranda Rainforest. The Pilot and I both wanted to do this while we were in Cairns, but the "Airbnb" we booked was not an Airbnb and we actually had a pretty terrible experience in Cairns and booked the first flight out of there that we could, spending only 24 hours in the city. If I ever go back to Australia, I might make a trip back to Queensland to see Kuranda, but I definitely wouldn't go back to Cairns. 
  • We didn't go wine tasting. The Pilot and I wanted to go wine tasting in the Yarra Valley near Melbourne, but as I mentioned, the weather in Melbourne was pretty terrible. 
We could have opted to go to Uluru instead of Ayer's Rock and we could have spent one fewer day in Sydney in favor of an extra day in Cairns, but, aside from wanting an extra day in Melbourne, I wouldn't have changed a thing!

We did have an unbelievable time and I wouldn't change a thing about our trip! I hope you fall in love with Australia just as much as I did as I share all about our trip in these next few posts and, more than anything, I hope you realize that you definitely don't need all the time in the world to plan a trip Down Under!

Have you been to Australia?
Is it on your bucket list? 
My next post will be all about Sydney!
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